Originally Posted by yogagal60510yah, I have a dear friend who lived in India 4 times during the
'70s-early '80s. he can retire this year and he wants to move back to India as soon as he can, wants to die in India
I really don't think anything will stop someone who wants to make India their final home. where there's a will there's a way.

yeah i have been like 4 times to switzerland..and i so badly want to retire there..

i really think everything and anything stops me from making switzerland my final home. where there is a immigration service like that, there is no way...

and you could substitute switzerland with many other countries including the US..

atleast the last time i checked.. old indian men cant marry barely legal swiss women and get whatever status. zurich or chiang mai or pattaya?..

just musing on a slow day....please do take offense now that i am from the rudest city in the world!..yooohoooo..got a label now!...

For comparison purposes, here's a really depressing (but informative) article about obstacles to legal immigration to the U.S., from the on-line version of the San Francisco Chronicle. It's stuff like this make makes me want to tear my hair out when I read posts by foreigners blithely talking about their plans to retire in India, la-de-da ...

But I'm sure the Indian Govt., in contrast to the U.S. and many other places, will soon be shaping its immigration policies to cater to the desires of foreign retirees, so they can happily totter along in their walkers, hooked up to their oxygen tanks, while they wait to die in India. Because, you know, India doesn't already have enough of its own people to use up all those medical and social services that are just lying around going to waste because the locals won't use them.

as long as there are people literally dying on the road to get into the US, and as long as US citizens retire in (or just move to and work in) Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, or wherever (and I know quite a few people who have moved to all those places and others and they are not all retirement age), people will always find a way to live wherever they so desire. It might not be easy, but they do it.

My India Photos, 2005-2017"When you are truly genuine there will invariably be people who do not accept you.﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ And in that case, you must be your own badass self, without apology." -- Katie Goodman

Originally Posted by yogagal60510as long as there are people literally dying on the road to get into the US, and as long as US citizens retire in (or just move to and work in) Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, or wherever (and I know quite a few people who have moved to all those places and others and they are not all retirement age), people will always find a way to live wherever they so desire.

Yes, true. And sometimes they have to do it illegally and sometimes, if they want to be above board, it takes them years and years of waiting and separation from their loved ones.

I can certainly understand and sympathize with the desire to move to/retire to India or wherever. (Heck, I'd personally like to do it - or maybe Venice ...) But what always gets my goat is that so many Westerners assume that it will be a piece of cake, or that they are somehow entitled to it. And it breaks my heart when I contrast that with the travails (word chosen deliberately - look up the etymology) of people who want to move in the opposite direction.

Originally Posted by yogagal60510as long as there are people literally dying on the road to get into the US, and as long as US citizens retire in (or just move to and work in) Mexico, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, or wherever (and I know quite a few people who have moved to all those places and others and they are not all retirement age), people will always find a way to live wherever they so desire.

people are dying on the road to get to the US [or other 'western lands']...so they are not able to live where they desire period.

unlike people from the 'western world' having that priviledge to move wherever.

I have toyed with the thought. My pension, Rs 65 000 after taxes per month should be useful. I haven't investigated the possible levels, but assume that the prospect of a Swedish widow's pension would make me fairly attractive on the shaadi market. But as I grow older, I statistically will need more health care, which is as good in Sweden, and free.

Also, AFAIK there is no age limit on our free university education, so in Sweden I can go on learning languages and other fun stuff without having to dig into my for Swedish standards not-too-much-above-survival level pension for more than the books.

No, I'll stay in Sweden and be available to Mother (we live in the same house) for things like bringing in the mail and driving her to her club meetings or for shopping (she has had a couple of leg operations), at least until my younger sisters retire in a few years.

Originally Posted by dzibeadSheesh! Ditto, ditto, and ditto to the three prior responses.

If the Sunday Times is running articles like this, it's no wonder we get so many posts here from starry-eyed Brits caught up in some completely clueless fantasy about retiring to India.

i was talking to a group of senior MEA officials this evening, who say the indian govt does want pensioners to consider india. Pensioners are an international business, and their money is wanted.

There are, I was told tonight, many Brit pensioners, living in Goa.

What do you know dzibead? Who have you been talking to? I only ask because you give the impression you have superior info...

dzibead, have you been to india lately? it has some of the best hospitals in the world. It has medical tourists flocking to the apollo and others. govt ministers throughout asia come to be treated there. pensioners moving here would have indian or international med insurance.

Himachal Pradesh has relaxed its property laws to allow indians from outside the state or NRIs buy homes there. Foreigners can buy by registering a company there.

entitlement?

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Originally Posted by dzibead...so many Westerners assume that it will be a piece of cake, or that they are somehow entitled to it.

hmmmm....I would think that those westerners who think they are "entitled" to living in India or any another country, would also think they are "entitled" to many other things in life. I don't run in that crowd.

Originally Posted by deandzibead, have you been to india lately? it has some of the best hospitals in the world. It has medical tourists flocking to the apollo and others. govt ministers throughout asia come to be treated there. pensioners moving here would have indian or international med insurance. Himachal Pradesh has relaxed its property laws to allow indians from outside the state or NRIs buy homes there. Foreigners can buy by registering a company there.

dean..

where are the hospitals located?..what is the support system for the pensioners? do they want to live right inside the metro? who are they going to sue for malpractice stuff? it is easy to read brochures and go gaga...it is one thing to be a medical tourist but its a completely different ball game to put down everything here for retirement

the govt lives in a bubble in delhi totally out of sync with the rest of the country. sure..find hospitals in the hills of HP or ride those bumpy roads when you are 80 years old. and what are you going to do when there are power cuts? or monsoons basically make your condo an island? who do you gonna call? ghostbusters?

why do i feel looking at your posting that the kool-aid given by the MEA this evening to you was very effective?

Chennai, Bangalore hyderabad... the real estate is cheap (want sources?) support services are good, and some hospitals are being built specially for Medical tourism. There's even an ALTERNATE medical tourism boom in progress.

Chennai, Bangalore hyderabad... the real estate is cheap (want sources?) support services are good, and some hospitals are being built specially for Medical tourism. There's even an ALTERNATE medical tourism boom in progress.

sure..go ahead and retire in chennai and hyderabad. do you know how much the average temperature is in the south in summer?...and bangalore..traffic, bad infrastructure and pollution...nice for a retirement place...you are just 30 years late.

we are talking about retirement here. medical tourism is completely different. if you want to retire in chennai, be my guest but then dont bitch about traffic, noise, the sun, humidity..and i thought some people want quieter lives during retirement..

real estate is cheap?..you can ask Nick his problems in locating a decent house in chennai.

real estate is cheap?..you can ask Nick his problems in locating a decent house in chennai.

on a per square foot price, chennai is MUCH cheaper than bombay or bangalore..

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we are talking about retirement here. medical tourism is completely different.

I was responding to dean's quoted post..

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it has some of the best hospitals in the world. It has medical tourists flocking to the apollo and others. govt ministers throughout asia come to be treated there. pensioners moving here would have indian or international med insurance.

Yes , medical tourism is very different than pensioniers retiring in india, although one of the big attractions for pensioners in buying into (say) a township in hyd/chennai is that medical facilities are very easily accessible.

Originally Posted by deandzibead, have you been to india lately? it has some of the best hospitals in the world. It has medical tourists flocking to the apollo and others. govt ministers throughout asia come to be treated there. pensioners moving here would have indian or international med insurance.

Himachal Pradesh has relaxed its property laws to allow indians from outside the state or NRIs buy homes there. Foreigners can buy by registering a company there.

I was most recently in India about 18 months ago, and yes I'm well aware of the Apollo and also of the increasing "medical tourism" that India is attracting. But take Nick-H's advice (in this thread, above at (I think) message # 2 or #3.) The fact that NRIs and Indians from outside HP can now buy property in that State isn't going to help the average, non-NRI Western retiree at all. And buying and registering a company as a way to qualify under the FEMA and RBI rules to be able to buy property is coming under increasing regulatory scrutiny if the news reports coming out of Goa are at all accurate. Anyway, forming or acquiring, and then running, a company hardly sounds like something an actual "retiree" would be doing, unless the person intends to form a bogus company in order to give the appearance of satisfying the regulations. But forming and registering the company can't be a sham transaction. It has to be a real, honest-to-goodness, functioning company that's really doing business, and the property acquired in the company's name has to be at least reasonably necessary to or related to the business's operation. Again, this has all been hashed over at length in the thread mentioned by Nick-H, so I suggest you follow up by checking it out.

Originally Posted by cdrakeon a per square foot price, chennai is MUCH cheaper than bombay or bangalore..

although one of the big attractions for pensioners in buying into (say) a township in hyd/chennai is that medical facilities are very easily accessible.

chennai is cheaper than bombay but try to find decent inventory of houses/flats.....in fact prolly 90% cities in the world are cheaper than bombay. and look at the road infrastructure that chennai has...bombay is way ahead.

chennai and hyderabad have the worst climate in summer. now if its worth retiring to a place which has 40-45C average temps in summer., power cuts, water is a big problem and that too in a new country without any other extended family......i really need to send some of these people to a psychologist...wait..we dont have those in india yet..atleast that cater to the western pyschology..

pensioners will fall sick when they come from english summers to indian summers specifically in these two cities..you cant aircondition everything..and you also have to account for secondary infections and what not. and the support services that are required for such living arent there in india yet. are there handicapped accessible places? are they reputable nurse/manpower agencies for that household help? what is there for socialising stuff? especially for seniors...

and if you live in secondary cities..how are you going to get to the main airport?..do you want to stand in queue everywhere you go? do you want to be stuck in the traffic trying to get to that big hospital?

if you want to look at cities outside of goa dean..go to coimbatore...that city is attracting a lot of indian seniors. though i am bit wary to mention it, someone out there will brochure it to attract a bunch of out of country retirees and drive up the local prices over the roof. couple of other cities in the radar might be mysore and mangalore...